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Lakers assistant coaching candidate profile: Chuck Person

June 2, 2011 | 5:20
pm

Below is the third post in a series looking at potential Lakers assistant coaches. We'll look at Chuck Person, whom The Times' Mike Bresnahan reported Coach Mike Brown planned to interview Wednesday as a possible assistant.

Background: Person joined the Lakers' coaching staff before the 2009-2010 season on an interim basis to help with Ron Artest'sadjustment with the Lakers. Person had experience coaching Artest as an assistant in Indiana and Sacramento. Soon enough, he worked closely with Kobe Bryant on shooting and with Andrew Bynum on his post presence, and was asked to stay on a full-time basis. He earned plenty of credit from the Lakers for helping with the team's shooting, as well as implementing the defense that spurred the Lakers to a 17-1 mark following the NBA All-Star break. The Times Broderick Turner reportedthat he had an interview with the Golden State Warriors for their vacant coaching position and was even considered a candidate for the Lakers' head coaching job, though he never received a formal interview. In a sitdown interview with The Times' Lakers blog, Person revealed his interest for a head coaching opportunity.

Connection to Brown: Person and Brown worked as assistants at Indiana.

Style: Person would be the only holdover from Jackson's staff and could help ease the transition. Just as Brown impressed the Lakers' front office with his detailed scouting reports and DVDs highlighting defensive schemes, Person's known to carry index cards detailing every drill he's done since going to Jerry West'sbasketball camp in seventh grade. Person is considered to be an unassuming, approachable and engaging teacher. Bryant, who had struggled at times adjusting to his fractured right index finger, credited Person for helping him change his shooting stroke in the 2009-10 season by transferring the pressure on his right index finger to his middle finger and thumb. Bynum, who took a large role in buying into the Lakers' new defensive scheme this season, can credit Person for convincing Jackson to alter the team's defense to keep Bynum in the lane instead of out on the perimeter to help out the backcourt with stopping pick-and-rolls. Some players had shared in their exit interviews that the new scheme proved to be a deep learning curve, but that spoke more to their inconsistent execution of it than actual knowledge of the system.